Programming Best Practices “Crafting Compelling and Engaging Local TV”

by Jesse Lerman, President/CEO, TelVue

Creating a successful broadcast schedule involves both art and science. Understanding your audience is the foundation for a winning program strategy. Knowing demographics and daily routines (kids aren’t available during school hours, working folks may only view evening broadcasts, seniors and retirees might watch during the day) allows you to tailor your content with more dayparting and encourage “habitual” viewing. Focusing on the Ls: local and live drive viewership. Leveraging technology tools to increase programming, promotion, reach, and accessibility can help grow your audience and keep viewers coming back for more.

The TelVue HyperCaster’s powerful series scheduling automates and simplifies adding a wide variety of programming. Combined with support of a vast array of live streaming sources, you can easily create a fresh, updated program schedule including live programming. The HyperCaster has always been ahead of the curve on streaming integration, supporting modern SRT (since 2017), RTMP Push & Pull, Social Media, Zoom, NDI and more, without the need for expensive restreaming services just to go live. The JAG Media Exchange is also a great resource for “like” programming to complement your local productions. The HyperCaster’s integrated Bulletin Board augments scheduled programming and connects your audience to town departments and community organizations needing to deliver important local announcements.

The HyperCaster’s new mobile user interface makes program scheduling much faster and more convenient, including on-the-go. Expanded user access control makes it more efficient to distribute and partition scheduling responsibilities, such as scheduling certain channels only, or managing live events only for volunteers.

New HyperCaster Mobile & Responsive Scheduling Interface

Consistent scheduling can increase tune-in and deliver a professional viewing experience, helping to build viewer loyalty. The new HyperCaster program segmentation feature allows building in natural program breaks for spot messaging, sponsorships, and to pad programs to consistent durations. Designed originally for advertising and modern FAST channels, segmentation is useful for PEG stations as well.

Promoting your programming is essential to attract and retain viewers. HyperCaster’s graphic overlay rules with snipes, tickers, program guides, and squeezebacks automate on-air marketing messaging to maintain audience flow throughout the day. The fully searchable website guide, electronic program guide integration, and CloudCast’s program guide display alongside your live stream all drive promotion.

HyperCaster On-Air Program Guides & Integrated CBB

Social media platforms are also a crucial tool for your station to expand its reach and increase engagement. TelVue’s integrated social streaming simplifies distribution to platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, where you can also leverage analytics for demographics and more. TelVue’s native CloudCast analytics and reporting make it easier to identify who, where, what and for how long people are watching on your website, mobile & OTT apps. This enables your station to evaluate the success of your programming and identify opportunities for improvement.

CloudCast Integrated Viewer Analytics & Reports

Accessibility is increasingly important to ensure all viewers can connect with your cable & streaming content. Many viewers, especially young multi-taskers, prefer to watch video programming with the captions on. TelVue SmartCaption is an affordable way to automatically caption your channels and on-demand programming, while also making your government meetings fully searchable. The CloudCast video player has been designed with web accessibility in mind and is well on the way to full adherence to upcoming Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and ADA requirements. Embracing the best practices above can elevate the appeal of your station’s programming, leading to increased viewer engagement and satisfaction, and cement your station’s role as an important local broadcasting hub. TelVue’s focus has always been to provide the scheduling and broadcast tools to help you reach these objectives. At the JAG meeting this month, we look forward to showcasing the latest TelVue enhancements that can help you craft and deliver compelling and engaging local TV, wherever and however your viewers are watching.